It is at first glance surprising to see one of the world’s first collections of French decorative arts in London – some furnitures is of royal origin – but the underlying history perfectly explains the links that united the UK and France and that presided over the development of the Wallace collection.
The collection began around 1760 under the aegis of Francis Seymour Conway, first Marquess of Hertford, but was considerably expanded by his descendant Richard Seymour Conway and his natural son Richard Wallace.
Richard Wallace was born in London in 1818, to Richard Seymour Conway and Eliza Wallace – from a noble but poor family. The child is not recognized by his father – he will bear his mother’s name all his life – but he is raised by his paternal grandmother, who quickly takes him to live in Paris.
In 1840, Richard meets Charlotte Castelnau, daughter of a former French army officer, who quickly gives birth to a child that Richard would not recognize until the death of his own father, Edmond-Richard.
In 1842, Richard begins to become known among Parisian art collectors. His own father soon makes him his right-hand man for his business in France – which notably concerns the purchase of pieces of art – and Richard, as the years came, devotes himself only to the management of his father’s property, which notably owns the Bagatelle estate.
Lord Hertford dies in Bagatelle in 1870. Single, he designates Richard as his sole heir to an immense fortune and a significant French, Irish and English land heritage endowed with priceless pieces of furniture.
Richard Wallace may be an heir and a collector, but he’s also a philanthropist.
He lives in Paris and sees the horrors that decimate his adoptive homeland. He participates in the form of donations to the Relief Society for Military Wounded during the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. He pays large sums in favor of the poors via the French Public Treasury. He finances the construction of the Hertford British Hospital in Levallois-Perret. His charitable actions during the siege of Paris earn him the Legion of Honor in France and the title of baronet in England.
Richard finally marries Charlotte – and recognizes their son – and decides to settle in London in 1872. He has his pieces of art acquired in Paris transported there in order to increase his notoriety among British aristocracy.
At the same time, the Wallace fountains that we still know today in Paris are installed. The city of Paris suffered from the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune episode – and it is important that its reconstruction be rapid. New buildings, such as the Sacré-Cœur church, are constructed, new boulevards are opened and philanthropists largely finance these initiatives.
Richard Wallace is one of them. The siege of Paris and the Commune destroyed numerous aqueducts and the price of water soared. The temptation of the wine merchant is great among the most deprived. Richard Wallace helps finance the “brasseries of the four women” – these beautiful green fountains topped with four caryatids – in partnership with the city of Paris, in order to offer free water points to Parisians.
The first Wallace fountain is installed in August 1872, and the considerable number of Parisians present create a frantic stampede.
At the same time, the Wallace collection continues to grow. Paintings and manuscripts from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era further embellish the existing collections.
His son Edmond-Richard dies in 1887 and Richard, who returned to live at the Bagatelle castle, dies there three years later.
His widow Charlotte, sole heir, resides between Paris and London – where high society would never completely accept her – and in 1894 bequeathes Hertford House and its some 5,500 objects presented in twenty-five galleries to the British nation by will.
The Bagatelle estate will be bought by the city of Paris.
However, the Wallace collection is still housed within Hertford House and today presents a vast panorama of art from the 14th to the 19th century.
October 11, 2024
